The analysis of benchmarks and best practices is becoming more relevant. Political cultural aspects and the facets of democratization are central fields in Comparative Political Science. The well known political scientists Juan Linz, Arend Lijphart, Charles Ragin and other describe the state of the art and new methodological approaches in the discipline. The analysis of benchmarks and best practices is becoming more relevant. Political cultural aspects and the facets of democratization are central fields in Comparative Political Science. Juan Linz, Arend Lijphart, Charles Ragin and other well known political scientists describe the state of the art and new methodological approaches in the discipline. Preface.- Foreword.- Foreword 2.- Comparative Studies: Problem or Solution. The Political Culture of Democratization.- Democracy in the Twenty-First Century: Can We Be Optimistic?.- Legitimacy of Democracy.- Stein Rokkan's Influence on one American Social Scientist and a Discipline.- Case-Oriented Research and the Study of Social Action.- A Causal Analysis of Democratization.- Democracy, Numbers, and Theories.- Status Incongruence: An Expanding Phenomenon.- 'Secondary Democracy' in the European Union and the Role of Direct Democracy.- A Changing Political Culture? East-Central Europe in the 1990s.- "Democratizing" Theories of Revolution: Why and How Democrats Rebel.- The Bourgeoisie and Democracy: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives from Europe and Latin America.- Parties, Coalitions and Transitions: The Case of the PPD in Chile.- Contributors. Norbert Kersting is Senior Researcher at the Philipps-University of Marburg.
Lasse Cronqvist is Research Assistant at the Philipps-University of Marburg.
